Patriots’ offense improved vs. Chiefs, but players say it can be better
Generally, when an NFL offense converts half of its third-down opportunities, the quarterback passes for over 300 yards, and no one turns the ball over, it’s a pretty good day.
On Saturday night, after the New England Patriots beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 27-20, with those numbers, Tom Brady and receiver Julian Edelman said they can improve heading into Sunday’s AFC championship game.
“I thought we did a better job today than what we’ve been doing, but I think we can still do a lot better,” Brady said after Saturday’s victory. “I thought we had a good plan. I thought we worked hard, studied this team, watched a lot of film, so I think the preparation was good. We had a good week of practice. I think we had plenty of plays out there that we left on the field, things that we can definitely do better, and I think we can be sharper next week. So that’s what we’re going to try to be. We’re going to need it.”
With Edelman playing for the first time in two months – he broke a bone in his left foot against the New York Giants in November – and tight end Rob Gronkowski playing in pain (he was listed on the injury report with knee and back ailments and missed two of three practices last week), Brady completed two-thirds of his 42 passes, 24 of those attempts directed to Edelman and Gronkowski.
“There’s a bunch of situations we didn’t do well on,” Edelman said. “We didn’t execute too well on some great field position a couple times, a few third downs we didn’t do too well and could have done better. We didn’t score every time we were in the red area. The only thing we did well, we had good ball security and we didn’t turn the ball over.”
The Patriots’ offense sputtered over the final six weeks of the season without Edelman and with Gronkowski missing a game (he was hurt against the Denver Broncos) but still recovering when he was on the field. Their third-down numbers dropped noticeably, and Brady’s completion percentage slipped as well.
Those numbers were up against Kansas City, but the Broncos, the team New England will face in the AFC Championship, boast one of the best defenses in the NFL this season, strong against the pass and also on third down, where they ranked seventh.
